Arjan Tien

German-Dutch conductor Arjan Tien studied violin and viola at the Conservatory in Utrecht and conducting with George Hurst and Roberto Benzi in England and Switzerland. He finished his studies in Utrecht in 1994 summa cum laude. As a viola player he gave his solo debut with the Salzburg Chamber Soloists in Sao Paulo and Vitória in Brasil. Arjan Tien also was concert master at the Brabants Kammerorchester and solo violist at the Dutch National Youth Orchestra. From 1992 to 2004 he was a viola player at the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland. In 1997 Arjan Tien attended the International Conductor Master Class in La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland. He received First Prize „Rotary-Faller“. In 1998 he gave his debut at the KwaZulu Natal Philharmonic Orchestra. That led to many further invitations from this and all other orchestras in South Africa. Between 1999 and 2001 he worked as assistant conductor at the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland and the Dutch Opera Society. In 2000 he took over the Dutch Youth Orchestra at short notice. In 2001 his debut with Concertgebouw Amsterdam. In 2002 he recorded the film music to De Tweeling with the Metropole Orchester. In 2003 he conducted the Netherlands Symphonic Orchestra. Both orchestras re-invited him immediately to conduct programs in 2004 and 2005. Arjan Tien’s vast repertoire stretches from baroque to classical and romantic to contemporary music and pop music. He conducted several world premieres, among them Deux Entr’actes Tragiques by Richard Wagner. Arjan Tien conducted various recordings for television, radio and CD. He performed in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Tury, Austria, Slovenia, Souch Africa, Sweden, Serbia, Montenegro and Hungary. He conducted, among others, Sinfonieorchester Biel, KwaZulu Natal Philharmonic Orchestra Durban, Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgrad Filharmonische Orchester, Netherlands Radio  Filharmonie, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Baroque 2000 in South Africa, Metropole Orchester and the Residentie Orchester. In 2003 Arjan Tien assisted Ingo Metzmacher at a concert performance of The Makropoulos Case at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He also assisted at the De Nederlandes Opera in Amsterdam at Boris Godunov. In Hilversum he conducted Die Entführung aus dem Serail, in Nijmegen Cavalleria Rusticana and in South African Durban Dido and Aeneas. In 2005 he worked with, a.o., the Metropole Orchester, the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa, the Cape  Town Philharmonic Orchestra and the KwaZulu Natal Philharmonic Orchester as well as the Residentie Orchester. In September 2006 he will become Chief Conductor and Artistic Leader of the newly founded Magogo Chamber Orchestra in the Dutch Tilburg. Furture plans include performances with most of the above mentioned orchestras as well as the Arnhem Philharmonic, the Residentie Orchestra, the Syros Festival Chamber Orchestra and the Antalya Symphony Orchestra. In 2007 Arjan Tien has been invited to conduct several opera performances; Les Contes d' Hoffmann by Offenbach at the State Theatre in Pretoria with the Black Tie Ensemble, the world premiere of God's Library by Krüs with Opera Spanga in the Netherlands as well as Verdi's La Traviata and Die Fledermaus, Dido and Aeneas and Haydn’s L’Isola Disabitata in Tilburg. Arjan Tien teaches conducting at the Fontys Academy of Arts in Tilburg.

Foto © Marco Borggreve

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